This very sensitive looking Minotaur was inspired by a video by the German band Einsturzend Neubauten (Collapsing New Buildings). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnnGYaqjW-A
The band was originally a noisy analog industrial band that played bedsprings and garbage cans onstage in a kind of controlled anarchy. I lost track of them for almost three decades but recently discovered the video for their song Sabrina. The creature in the video left a lasting impression on me and the result is the painting below. The video is of a figure with an ugly horned head inspecting himself in a dirty bathroom mirror. He applies lipstick, poses, laughs, cries and then it just ends. ….We’ve all been that person. Judging ourselves in the mirror….it’s especially true for those of use who have struggled with our identity. I saw a call for art by queer artists, and although I’m gay, I don’t really make ‘queer’ art, or art that is essentially about the gay, lesbian, bi, trans, gender fluid experience,….. At least, I don’t try to. I had nothing to submit to this call for art regarding ‘Pride’. However, when I looked into the eyes of my own painting, I saw myself staring back. Unconsciously, I made a painting about gay identity.
